Allyson Kay Duncan

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Allyson Kay Duncan (born September 5, 1951, in Durham, North Carolina) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She is the Fourth Circuit's first female African American judge.

Duncan was nominated to the Fourth Circuit by President George W. Bush on April 28, 2003 to the seat vacated by Judge Samuel J. Ervin III. The United States Senate confirmed her 93-0 on July 17, 2003, and she received her commission on August 15, 2003.

Duncan received a BA from Hampton University in 1972 and a JD from Duke University School of Law in 1975. She was an associate editor at the Lawyers Co-Operative Publishing Company from 1976 to 1977. Duncan then served for one year as a law clerk to Judge Julia Cooper Mack of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals from 1977 to 1978.

In 1978, Duncan joined the staff of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. By the time she left in 1986 she had served in a variety of important posts at the Commission: Appellate Attorney, Assistant to the Deputy General Counsel, Assistant to the Chairman, Acting Associate Legal Counsel, and Acting Legal Counsel.

At North Carolina Central University School of Law, Duncan served as an associate professor from 1986 to 1990. In 1990, she served briefly on the North Carolina Court of Appeals as an Associate Judge.

Duncan was appointed Commissioner on the North Carolina Utilities Commission in 1991, and remained in that post until 1998, when she joined the Raleigh, North Carolina office of the law firm Kilpatrick Stockton as a partner. She worked there until her appointment to the federal bench.